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The dessert at the Phoenix International Aviation Symposium each year is the panel of chief executive officers who sit down for the final session.

This year, we have, from right, International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh; SkyWest CEO Brad Rich; and US Airways CEO Doug Parker. On the far left was moderator Jonathan Keane, an Oliver Wyman partner. IAG is parent of British Airways and Iberia.

CORRECTION: The original version of this item identified Walsh as British Airways CEO. He stepped up from that job to IAG CEO after the January 2011 Iberia-British Airways merger created the holding company. Keith Williams is British Airways CEO.

As expected, SkyWest will begin operating as an American Eagle carrier this fall out of Los Angeles International Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

SkyWest announced Wednesday that it has signed a four-year “capacity purchase agreement” with American Airlines to operate 23 Bombardier CRJ200s, 50-seat jets, out of those two airports.

In Wednesday’s announcement, the carrier said it would begin American Eagle operations on Nov. 15, with all 23 to be in American Eagle service by the end of first quarter 2013.

“This agreement is indicative of the credibility of the people and the operational quality of SkyWest, Inc.,” SkyWest president Brad Rich said.

“We look forward to operating under the American Eagle designation and establishing ourselves as a trusted and valuable long-term partner for American,” Rich said.

The flights will be operated by SkyWest’s two carriers, SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines.

American has indicated it wanted to expand flying by commuter airlines that would feed traffic to American at its five cornerstone markets: Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, Chicago and New York.

Right now, that service is offered out of LAX and D/FW by American Eagle Airlines Inc., owned by AMR Eagle. AMR Eagle and American are owned by AMR, and all have been operating in bankruptcy since Nov. 29.

In a message to his employees, AMR Eagle president and CEO Dan Garton said the contract with SkyWest “is consistent with American’s plan to diversify its regional feed as part of its business plan to emerge from restructuring as a much stronger airline.”

American primarily had talked of wanting to add larger jets, in the 51- to 88-seat range, operated by partners rather than itself. Its old contract with the Allied Pilots Association limited it to only 47 airplanes in the 51- to 70-seat range, but a bankruptcy judge last week allowed American to void the pilot contract.

But Wednesday’s announcement covers only 50-seat jets.

Regional jets of 50 seats or smaller have increasingly fallen out of favor as the rising price of fuel has hurt the economics of small jets.

Airline analyst Helane Becker of Dahlman, Rose & Co. raised her recommendation on SkyWest from “sell” to “hold” because of the new contract, saying the American deal “removes our near-term concerns.”

SkyWest in its announcement said the 23 airplanes would come from its existing fleet “where they have previously been operated in behalf of another major partner.” Becker indicated it probably was Delta.

“Most recently, Delta swapped out of 66 smaller 50-seat aircraft in favor of 44 larger 70-seat aircraft, of which SkyWest was responsible for 25 50-seat aircraft,” she wrote.

“Despite the near-term fix with American, SkyWest is still the largest operator of 50-seat aircraft, operating 268 at the end of 2Q12. The 50-seat aircraft have fallen out of favor with many legacy airlines. SkyWest will need to continue to transform its business model to adapt to the new changes in regional flying over the long-term,” she added.

SkyWest, the largest U.S. regional airline, currently operates regional jets as the Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines, as United Express for United Airlines, as US Airways Express for US Airways and as Alaska Airlines for that carrier.

SkyWest Airlines operates seven flights a day out of Dallas Love Field as United Express — six to Houston and one to Denver. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, it operates 17 flights: six to Houston, three to Los Angeles, two each to Denver and San Francisco and one to Chicago as United Express, and one flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul and two to Salt Lake City and Delta Express.

ExpressJet Airlines operates five flights a day to Atlanta out of Dallas Love Field as Delta Express. Out of D/FW Airport, it operates six flights: three to Cleveland and one to Houston as United Express, as well as one to Detroit and one to Cincinnati as Delta Express.